The Senate Thursday passed for second reading, a bill for an Act to repeal the Students Loan and Access to Higher Education Act 2023 and enact the Student Loans Access to Higher Education Bill 2024.
President Bola Tinubu had in June 2023, signed the Student Loan Bill into law to enable Nigerian students to access loans at interest-free rates.
The student loan scheme was scheduled to take off on Thursday, but the presidency decided to make some amendments on the bill before implementation which the Senate gave expeditious consideration at plenary.
As presented by the Leader of the Senate , Senator Opeyemi Bamidele in his lead debate on the bill, President Tinubu is seeking a reenactment of the law he signed by addressing challenges related to the management structure of the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELF), applicant eligibility requirements, loan purpose, funding sources and disbursement and repayment procedures.
Bamidele in his lead debate said : “the Bill seeks to enhance the implementation of the Higher Education Loan Scheme, by addressing challenges relating to the management structure of the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELF), applicant’s eligibility requirements, loan purpose, funding sources and disbursement.
‘Mr. President and Distinguished Colleagues, the objectives of the Bill are to:
(i). Provide loans to qualified Nigerians to pay tuition, fees, charges and upkeep during their course of study in approved tertiary education institutions and vocational and skills acquisition institutions in Nigeria;
(ii) Build, operate and maintain a diversified pool of funds to provide loans to qualified applicants and ensure access to higher education, vocational training, and skills acquisition.
(iii) Ensure the recovery of all debts due to the Fund from loans granted to qualified applicants, except where the Board is of the opinion that a loanee should be exempted from repaying his loan by reason of:
(a) death, (b) considerations of hardship or equity; and
(c) impossibility or undue difficulty, or the expenses to be incurred in the recovery of the loan being far more than the amount sought to be recovered”
Mr. President, Distinguished colleagues, I hereby appeal to you all to give this Bill, expeditious passage because of its strategic importance to manpower development, in line with the policy thrust of the current Administration.
All the Senators who contributed to the debate, supported by commending the President for strengthening the proposed legislation.
When passed for second reading , the President of the Senate , Senator Godswill Akpabio , mandated the Senate Committee on Tertiary Education and TETFUND, to make more legislative inputs into it and report back on Tuesday next week.
